Coach Carl Pelini says FAU quarterback competition will carry into camp but expects a frontrunner coming out of spring

Although coach Carl Pelini says the competition for the starting quarterback will continue into August, a favorite appears to be emerging.

Here is what Pelini said last week about JC transfer Jaquez Johnson.
“He’s so far ahead of where I thought he would be. I don’t want to blow smoke but he’s exciting because he’s learned a lot in three weeks. You got to temper yourself. He’s an older guy, he’s out there handling himself so well, you got to keep reminding yourself he’s still a rookie.

“He’ll make a boneheaded mistake. … you kind of got to be in teaching mode. Don’t let the frustration get to you because he’s been on the team for three weeks.”

Johnson, a rising sophomore, junior Stephen Curtis, the only one who has game experience at FAU, and
senior Melvin German, a JC transfer who sat out last season continue to share the reps.

Pelini said the 6-1, 225-pound Johnson is the more physical of the three candidates.

“All three of them have their strengths and all three of them have things they have to work on,” Pelini said. “They’re all pretty mobile but they all have certain strengths. How we call plays will be very different in terms of which quarterback is out there.”

But. … “It’s going to go into August. That doesn’t mean we are not going to have a front runner coming out of spring.”

Brian Wright, the Owls offensive coordinator/QB coach, wants to see a lot more improvement from all three.

“I want to see them throwing the football on time and making good decisions,” Wright said. “With the heavy install I want to see how they take in information how they process it and how they can execute it.”

When asked if he is seeing the execution after three weeks of spring practice, Wright said: “At times we are but nowhere near where we need to be at the quarterback position.

“We’ll just see where we’re at when we get there. … if we feel like we’ll have a guy at the end of spring. If not, we’ll make that decision in camp in the fall.”